Glittering Stars
by goldleaves
Summary: Extreme AU: Fem/Kirk. James was content with meddling with warp engines and pranking the admiralty, but then Romulans just had to attack Vulcan. Suddenly she has to deal with idiots of a galactic proportion and Vulcans who are far too nosy for her liking.
1. Chapter 1

**Glittering Stars**

Chapter 1:

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><p>The desolation and chaos of the Starfleet Academy was familiar to James Tiberius Kirk, it was a comforting blanket that soothed her nerves and made her feel at home after six weeks away from the academy. It was always felt strange, returning to Iowa for six weeks of a year, after spending the rest of it in San Francisco amongst the bustling crowds of frantic cadets in red uniforms.<p>

The hilarity of it all amused her, not that it wasn't hard to amuse James T. Kirk, the crowds of new students mixing with older students in a rush to meet friends as if they hadn't been speaking in weeks, when in truth they had spoken mere hours earlier. The only thing that had changed since then was the annual welcoming speech, presided over by the Admirals. It was a long and boring affair that amused her to no end, especially when Bones was standing next to her, murmuring about how one Admiral had been admitted to sickbay because he had been attacked by a woman that was most definitely not his wife, or how another of the Admirals had once gotten so violently ill from drinking too much Romulan Ale that he had paraded himself naked throughout the Starship the next morning with a tattoo on his arse. It seemed that medical bay got all the gossip.

She smirked, at the visual that popped in her head, of her normally bad tempered friend, known for his grouchiness, chatting and gossiping as he tended his patients, and god forbid! giggling like a school girl, as most of the nurses who worked in the same shift were wont to do. She snorted at that thought, Bones giggling would be as likely as the interns not being afraid of him, which equated to when hell literally froze over. She gave another snort of amusement.

"What's got you so amused, my good friend?" came Bones from behind her. She turned to see him, they were in one of the large open planned meeting points, it was filled with hundreds of cadets who mingled in a swirl of red and laughter, dark and light skin mingled alongside blue, green and all other colours imaginable as they laughed and joked. There were some who stood nervously alone, newbies to the academy, others stood arms flung around each other in greeting, and she could see one cadet giving another a piggyback. It was the beginning of the new term and everyone was feeling it. The excitement in the air; the uncontrollable feeling that _this_ was where they were supposed to be and the indescribable feeling of belonging.

"I was just thinking" she said, pushing away from the edge of a ten foot variant of a palm tree that had originated on some far flung planet that she couldn't pronounce.

"Always a dangerous occurrence" Bones said with a laugh as they made their way through the hall and into one of the less crowded halls that led to the mess hall. Normally any hall that led to such a place would be busy and full of loud students, all making their way to the mess, jostling each other in a useless attempt to get food faster, but this particular hallway was almost empty, and remained that way throughout the year, for this hallway passed alongside the offices of several of the admirals and also the office of the Vulcan liaison to Star Fleet.

Almost all of the Federation states had a liaison to Star Fleet in order to ensure that Star Fleet protected the interests of each individual state, however the case was, as it usually is, that the Vulcan liaison to Star Fleet was an imposing man who like all of his race showed no emotion at all, and absolutely hated any unnecessary noise or loitering in the hallway outside his office. Of course he did not show this hatred, but rather displayed it in the officious manner that he time after time reprimanded a particularly loud first year who tried to run or accidently caused a raucous outside his office.

"Oh, hush you" she slapped his shoulder lightly, a grin on her face to discount her actions, "I was thinking about how strange it is, that the Academy has started to feel like home, and home has started to feel like just another place" It wasn't a complete lie, she had been thinking that before the image of Bones giggling and gossiping had jumped into her head.

"I know what you mean kid" Bones said, his southern accent colouring his words slightly. His accent always deepened and became more obvious after spending any amount of time with his family in Mississippi, and six weeks with only his daughter, the only time he got to spend time with her, and his parents meant that by the time term started again he was speaking as if he had never spent most of the year away from them.

"I mean, I love my mother but it's strange there now, I love it but I couldn't imagine staying there forever. Especially not when I'm now so close to graduating" She started to walk backwards, grinning inwardly at the way his jaw clenched as he processed the possibilities of her falling over and injuring herself, "Can you believe it Bones? Two more years until we're out there, in Space" she gave a dramatic wave towards the sky, "The Final Frontier. I can't wait"

"The Final Frontier?" he snorted, "What's got you talking like some sort of blue nose politician?"

"What!" she exclaimed, clasping her hands over her heart dramatically, her head tilting slightly to the left and she looked at him with large eyes, "Can't I show off my amazing linguistic skills without being insulted?" her doleful expression faltered as she miss-stepped and faltered for a moment, before straightening with a small laugh, "I think my luck has run out". She stopped and waited for him to catch up before stepping in beside him once more, much to his relief, and blood pressure.

"I think it has. Honestly kid, you're going to give me an aneurism with all your stunts, you're a danger magnet Jim and one day you're luck will well and truly run out"

"Gods, man" she said "You truly are depressing, cheer up! It's the first day back, and we're home!" she flanged her arms out wide and spun, a stupid but contagious grin on her face. She stopped spinning immediately when one of the doors opened along the hallway, and seven Vulcan's stepped out. They were all tall and imposing, their eyes scanned them quickly and guardedly before turning back to themselves, in silent conversation and judgement.

Bones and James walked past, quickly, trying not to attract attention or to laugh at the situation. As she felt a pair of dark Vulcan eyes on her back, she tried to stop her lips from twitching and allowing her laugh to escape at full force. Unfortunately she only partially succeeded as a small giggle escaped her lips only to be swallowed once more when she felt more eyes on her back, and Bones' glare from beside her.

Once they had turned the corner, they immediately relaxed and allowed sighs to escape, "That was close" she said, leaning against one wall, "I had a thought there for the moment that you were right"

"Ha!" Bones laughed, "The amazing James T. Kirk, admitting that others were right, the end of the world has come, 'tis time for the Apocalypse" he cried dramatically.

"Hey" she aimed a direct hit to the chest as they continued walking, "Not Fair! I do admit that others are right" she paused and grinned for a moment, "However when I admit that I'm wrong, that is when the world is about to end, and only then"

Bones flung an arm around her shoulder as they entered the mess, a barking laugh escaping his lips, "You're alright kid, you know that?"

"Of course I do. I'm James Tiberius Kirk" she gave a small mocking bow before grabbing a black tray off the pile and joining the cue. "So, what's your schedule like this year?" she quickly grabbed the last two Caesar Salads, knowing that with the length of the cue in front of them, it would be highly unlikely for them to actually get something with meat in it, and it was the only thing that wasn't moving around on the plate.

"Busy" Bones said, taking one of the salads from her with a grimace, "I've got double shifts on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday evening, and a morning shift on Friday" another grimace appeared on his lips at the thought, "That's on top of Klingon studies and Geology"

"Why did you take Klingon studies anyway?" she asked turning to him when the cue had once again stopped as yet another cadet changed his mind when ordering, "I mean, I can understand you doing Geology, you're about as happy as rock, but why Klingon?"

Bones pointedly ignored the jab at his infamous moodiness, "I like Klingons, they may stink to high hell but they're straight forward and speak their mind, unlike those damn hobgoblins, always muttering about 'logical this' or 'illogical that' it makes my head hurt"

She grinned and patted his head, much to his disapproval, "Oh, poor itsy witsey, baby wabey, Bones-ey. Do the Vulcans confuse you?" she merely laughed when he scowled at her and brushed her hand away.

"Whatever" they moved forward, and he grabbed some bread, which the Andorian behind him had been eyeing, and ignoring the indigent 'hey' that was heard, he deposited half of it on James' tray and turned to her, "So what's your schedule like?"

"Quite full, I've got Engineering, Physics, Maths and Linguistics and Vulcan Studies" she replied with a small grin.

"You're taking four classes? Again?" He looked incredulous, "You're going to burn out, theirs is no way that even you 'James Tiberius Kirk' can continue like this, you hardly slept at all last year. I swear you were like a zombie at the end"

"Hey! Stop picking on the insomniac!" she laughed as they made their way towards a partially empty table. They sat at the end of the table, allowing the customary two seats between them and the group that had already been there.

"Jim" Bones said, looking grave, "I hate you! You know that right?"

"Aye, I do" she laughed, sipping some water, "But just remind me, what have I done this time to cause such hatred?"

Bones glared down at the salad on his plate, "I want meat, Jim, meat! I swear by the time the end of the year has come I'm almost vegetarian! Why did you have to mess up _all _of the replicators?"

"Because they're evil and foul!" Bones laughed at her indigent expression, "Was I the only one to order one thing and receive something else entirely? Those things hated me, I'm telling you Bones, they had it out for me!"

"So you decided to break them?"

"They're not broken! I've merely exchanged the wires a little bit, reversed the power core and installed a basic virus programme. Any engineer worth his salt could fix it" she smiled, "Of course, they've never asked me what I did to it, and they've spent the last year and a half giving the job to half-baked science cadets. They're absolutely useless"

"Whatever! Just fix it and soon" Bones said, "I want meat! And soon" She laughed at his stubborn expression.

"If they haven't figured it out by the end of the week, I'll do it, okay!"

"Promise?" His eyes were hard and serious.

"Promise?" she laughed, ignoring his glower "Yes, I promise. Gods, Bones, it's as if anyone would think that I wasn't trustworthy"

"Oh no, you're trustworthy" he swallowed a chunk of the bread, grimacing at the slight stale taste of it, "Just you have a record of forgetting things, and remembering them at the last moment"

"At least I remember!"

"Sometimes I wonder how you got this far" He shook his head in confusion, "You hardly sleep, have a tendency to dive head first into a situation without thinking of the consequences, yet you never get into trouble for it, though everybody knows its you. You also have a disturbing tendency to insult people without meaning to and you have the record for the most amounts of injuries in Academy history. I sometimes wonder how you are still alive."

"My amazing charm and good looks" she paused, a fork with lettuce halfway towards her mouth, "And I'm James T. Kirk, of course", she swallowed the lettuce.

"Of course" he grumbled, "As if that makes a difference, you're still human Jim"

"I may be human, but I'm also the most stubborn person that you will ever meet" she said proudly, her head high and a smug expression on her face.

"Now _that_ I believe"


	2. Chapter 2

**Here is a present, I was going to upload it tomorrow but I decided to be nice and give it to you now. I hope you have a Merry Christmas or whatever your equivalent Mid-December holiday is. Have a peaceful holiday and don't forget to review.**

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><p><strong>Glittering Stars<strong>

Chapter 2:

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><p>The Engineering Labs at the Academy were a second home to James T. Kirk, they were messy, oily and a danger to anyone that was not careful, but to her they were organized chaos. She knew where every ark reactor was, every welding torch and every deceptive looking oil spot that if you didn't see it, you would land on your back in seconds.<p>

The entire engineering building was a great monstrosity from the early 21st century, from before First Contact. It was an ugly concrete building hidden behind the newer glass and steel buildings, and it had very few windows. The inside of the building however was the exact opposite, it was open and bright and light, there were meeting areas where engineering cadets could talk in between classes and practical's, their red cadet uniform covered by dirty yellow overalls that had seen better days, and had been tagged with the names of all those that had gone before.

Walking into her first practical of the year, James could feel the excitement in the air, it was a new year and this year they would be eligible for the Annual Engineering Challenge, it was a race to build pre-first contact racing machines, and then race them, and it was only open to third years and over. Placing her bag in one of the empty lockers, she scrawled her name across the placard on the front, and across the overalls, that already bore a dozen names, the names of engineers past. She threw them on and went to sit next to the only other person who had arrived. Gaila.

"Hey!" she said, throwing herself into the seat and smiling as it gave a slight groan, "How are you?"

"I'm good" the Orion nodded enthusiastically, her red curls bouncing, "So excited! So, so excited" James was forced to laugh at her exuberance.

"Okay, tell me. What has got you so excited?" before Gaila could answer however, Jim put up a hand to stop her, "No, let me guess" she paused and scratched her chin, as if thinking, "Is it, oh I don't know, _boys_?" they burst out laughing.

"Not just any boys, _Vulcan _boys!"

"Vulcans! Oh lord Gaila" she said, "You have no luck, they're stuck up snobs, and they hate any thing that doesn't believe in their superiority"

"I know that!" Gaila slapped her shoulder slightly, "Why is it that anytime I mention men everyone immediately thinks that I want to jump them"

"Because you're Orion, and you do" came a soft but masculine voice from behind them. James turned her head to face the newcomer,

"Cupcake!" she cried, a smile on her face, ignoring the grimace that flitted across his face at the sound of the name he had been given when he had accidently told them, whilst drunk, that his mother still called him that, "I thought you were dropping Engineering!"

"Was going to" he said, sitting next to them, "But I failed Vulcan studies and had to drop that instead, they wouldn't let me drop two, and besides I don't want to miss the Engineering Challenge, that thing is awesome!"

"Oh!" Gaila said, thumping him in the chest with enough force to cause him to wince, "Not because you would miss us then?"

"Well no" he said, rubbing the spot where her green fist had connected, "But that goes without saying. However what needs saying is why are you thinking about Vulcans and not wanting to jump them?"

"There's a party from the Vulcan Fleet here" Gaila said, flicking her red hair back, "they're here to talk about a proposed exchange between them and Starfleet" she glared at Cupcake, "And I'll have you know that I did try to, but they went all 'it would be illogical' on me, it was weird" the three of them laughed, and spoke further as the rest of their class sat down.

Everyone quietened when Lt Commander Gaar entered the room. Like most of his species, Gaar was short and had a long messy beard, his nose was snout like in appearance and he had an infamous short temper, but despite this he was a favourite among the cadets because he was the best instructor in engineering and had a tendency to make jokes about the admiralty.

"Quiet" he called, his deep voice bellowing across the room, he ignored the fact that they were all ready quiet, and clapped his hands together, "Good, now that you've settled down, we can begin. There will be no tests to start the year, and we will not be going easy. We're going straight to work. It will be hard work, you will cry, you will bleed and you will be taken to sickbay. If you find this to be scary, then you can get your pale, lilly-livered arse out of here at once" he pointed towards the door expectantly.

No-one moved. Instead they shifted in their seats in excitement.

"Okay then, today and for the rest of the week we will be working on …" he paused in suspense, and from the corner of her eye James could see the others leaning forward in anticipation, and with a sudden jolt of realisation she noticed that she was also, "Preparatory smale-scale designs for the Engineering Challenge." Excited whispers made their way across the room, but were soon quietened by a glare from the Tellarite, "At the end of the week, I will chose the best five prototypes to be made for the challenge, so remember your designs have to be practical."

Everyone sat in silence for a moment, looking around the room, as if checking out the competition though they hadn't even started.

"What are you waiting for?" Gaar said, waving a hand dismissively, "Go!" They scattered from their seats, several of them falling over in haste as two dozen cadets rushed to claim a work station and parts. Jim took a work station in the back, near the only window in the room, which looked out into the quad, a small patch of grass and trees that the building surrounded. She also chose the station because it was the closest to the sheet metal bin.

Looking over her notes on early 21st century racers that she had made in the lecture the day before, she decided to create a type of car that had been called a 'F1 racer'. F1's were fast, highly unstable cars that often blew up and killed their drivers, but they were the fastest from the time. Sketching a basic design onto a piece of sketch paper, she looked up to see that some had already begun welding metal together. She smirked, knowing that while she might start out slower than others she always ensured that hers was the best. Finishing the basic design and calculations, she casually pulled her hair up and tied it with an elastic band, before walking to the where the metal tubes were.

Walking past Gaila and Cupcake she gave them a smile, they had already started. The large practical lab was shaped in a large U shape, the main area where the lockers and Gaar's desk was where most of the cadets worked, and had it been a smaller class everyone would be there, but because they were the largest class in the Academy, extra stations had been put into the areas that shot off from there. She gave a small wave to Sanderson and to some of the others as she made her way to the metal tube bin, which was in the other off-shoot of the practical lab.

She pulled on her gloves as she neared the bin in order to avoid any splinters that would undoubtedly existed on the tubes. She grabbed a half inch tube and pulled it out of the bin, with much difficulty as it was almost as tall as herself, which with her not insubstantial 6 foot 1 height was quite a feat. She flexed the pipe and saw that it was strong but also flexible for her purposes, and carried it back to her station.

As she walked back to her station, she saw that she was not the only one who had chosen the method of getting more than they would need, just in case they made a mistake. It was comical when she saw the four foot figure of Veronika carrying a large sheet of aluminium back to her station, especially as the sheet was taller and much wider than her. When she turned the corner she saw that Lt. Gaar and two Vulcan's were standing by her station, looking at her notes and design. As she passed Gaila they caught eye contact but Gaila merely shrugged in answer to her silent question.

Gingerly she made her way to her station and placed the pipe down, as it connected to the surface it made a soft thump that alerted Lt. Gaar and the Vulcan's presence there.

"Ahh, there you are" Gaar said "I was merely showing our visitors your design. I see you're going with the F1 design" she nodded, trying not to make eye contact with the Vulcan's who she could feel staring at her, "Good, good. You get back to work and we'll get out of your way"

"Thank you sir" she said. As they moved out of the way, she picked up a white pencil and a measure. Before cutting the pipe with a plasma cutter she used her previous calculations in order to mark the length of the main piece of the body. She had designed it so that it was as light but as strong as possible, using a lot of triangles in the building of the body.

With the tinted goggles on, her eyes were protected but the rest of her face could feel the heat that was generated from the cutter. Using the plasma cutter was quick and easy but it generated a lot of heat and light, she could feel her face sweating and her lips drying in the heat. Turning off the cutter and moving the goggles so that they sat on top of her head she looked down at the pipe. It was cut clean through, no splinters; now all she had to do was bend it.

Unfortunately the bender was broken, having suffered a climatic death at the end of the last year, so marking out the bend points with white pencil, she turned on the plasma cutter again. She turned down the heat setting, and adjusted the nozzle so that it was as wide as it could be, then at a far distance she began to heat up the metal pipe. It was imperative that she heated the pipe slowly, and continued to do so while she bent it into shape other wise it would warp and the surface of the metal would rupture and weaken.

As she bent the metal, she checked the angles against the ones that she had drawn out earlier, deeming them as perfect as she could get them on the first try she dunked them into a pail of water and allowed it to steam and cool down. As she had finished the crafting of the body pieces, and knowing that she couldn't do more on the body during the session, she pulled the goggles off her face, licked her lips in an attempt to give them some moisture, moved her fringe which had stuck to her forehead and batted at the sweat across her face in order to cool herself down before taking off her gloves and putting the plasma cutter away. She had to start work on the engine itself.

She grinned at the thought, knowing that with her face no doubt sweaty and oily she probably looked like some sort of ghoul, and looking up she saw that she wasn't the only one who looked dishevelled. Gaila looked like a wilted leaf of some sort while Cupcake was bright red from the heat, but then again he was always burnt from the heat.

Leafing her notes one last time before she put them away, she noticed that they had been put into order and straightened, most likely by the Vulcans. She didn't mind people looking at her notes, as long as they didn't mess up her organized chaos. As she put them into her bag she put them back as they previously had been.

"Could you pass me two of the bearings please?" she asked Sanderson, who was closer to them than she was. He smiled and passed them to her. There were about seven cadets, including herself, crammed into the opening of the cupboard, all trying to get what they needed without pushing everyone else out of the way. Someone behind her asked her to pass a valve, and seeing it next to her elbow she did so before extricating herself from the cupboard with the parts she needed.

Placing the parts onto her station she grinned once more, it was time to indulge her OCD, everything had to be perfect!


	3. Chapter 3

**Glittering Stars**

Chapter 3:

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><p>"Kh'askeyralatha?" Jim said, reading from one of Uhura's lists. If there was one thing about Uhura that you could be sure of is, that even four days into a new term, she would have planned out all her revision for months ahead. At that moment they were revising Vulcan verbs. Fundamentally they were complete opposites of each other, in appearance, character and in aspirations, but much to the surprise of both of their friends they actually got along in mutual appreciation of the nuances of the Vulcan language. It was why they had both decided to elect for 'Linguistics and Vulcan Studies' rather than the normal Linguistics class.<p>

"In measure of clarity" said Uhura confidently, her eyes sparkling with confidence.

"No, that's Kh'sparkeyralatha" Jim said, looking down at the list to check.

"Then what's Kh'askeyralatha?" Uhura looked confused, it was not often that she got something wrong. And every time she did it irked her to no end and drove her forward in order not to make another mistake, it was another thing the two had in common.

"In act of making clear" Apart from their stubbornness and love of the Vulcan language, they had almost nothing in common, and so when they had started their fledgling friendship they had decided to only speak about things that they were sure that would not start an argument between the two. Thus it had meant that most of their conversation was limited to their studies, and sometimes the idiocy of men, though not often.

"No, it can't be!" Uhura said, leaning across the table on which they were sitting cross-legged to grab the list from her hands. "You're lying!" Uhura also had the tendency to doubt her, though Jim supposed that was because she was constantly teasing the younger woman. Jim also supposed that they made quite a sight. Two cadets sitting on top of a blanket covered table, cross-legged, their boots on the floor with their bags. Any free space on the table had been covered by a multitude of notes and PADD's and the younger of the two had her long luxurious mahogany hair falling forward in a curtain as she studied the list in front of her with determination.

She looked up eventually, her eye-brows furrowed. "I can't believe it! I just can't" she looked confused and Jim felt sympathy for her friend, she knew what it was like to try for perfection and fall short time after time. "How could I have gotten that confused? We only learnt that today"

"Perhaps you're studying too hard" she said with a smile, enjoying the scowl that lit upon Uhura's face.

"There's no such thing as 'studying too hard'" Uhura announced firmly, her eyes hard with disapproval at the older woman across from her.

"You really need to lighten up, Nyo, you're going to get greys from all your stress"

"And you need to focus more!" Jim cut her impending tirade with a bark of laughter and a smile

"Enough, enough" she waved the discussion away and put down the list and picking up another of the PADD's, ""let's do something else, Vulcan verb forms are not my favourite things in the world to be studying on a Friday" Uhura gave her another scowl but allowed the shift of conversation to more safe topics.

Time passed swiftly after that and after several hours they had spent studying together, as the sun began its descent in the sky over the San Francisco bay, they separated with a small smile and their arms laden with numerous PADD's. While Uhura turned to return to the student dorms, Jim entered the Medical Academy, a great metal and glass building that had originated in the early twenty-first century, and was consequently the oldest building on the campus, but it always made Jim feel at home, though that was perhaps because of the amount of time that she spent within its polished and shining interior.

"Hey!" she said as she flung her bag onto a seat, satisfied that it made a sufficient thunk to wake her friend from his coffee-deprived stupor, "How are you?"

"What are you doing here Jim?" Bones asked her, looking up at her from his notes and charts with red-rimmed eyes that spoke of his exhaustion,

"I came to keep you company for a little bit" she said with a smile, "Why are you here anyway? I thought you had your shift this morning"

"I did" he said with a scowl, deftly brushing away papers from the corner of the desk he was currently at so that she could sit, "But then some idiot didn't turn up for his shift, and here I am, staffing an emergency desk when I should be sleeping"

"Well" she said with a smug grin, "At least you don't have any classes on Fridays" she felt inordinately pleased with herself, briefly ignoring her friends pain, "And you were the one who was saying that my schedule will lead to my death by insomnia" she gave a small laugh at his grumble before all the amusement fell from her face and she regarded the paleness of his skin for a moment, "Seriously Bones, do you need me to get you some coffee or something?"

"Nah" he brushed her offer away as he checked the chronometer squeezed between numerous photos of various Academy sport teams that decorated the intensive trauma unit's wall, "I'm off in ten minutes, and we'll get food then"

"We going to the mess hall or off campus? I'm buying if we go off campus" she offered

"You don't have to do that" he grumbled

"Who would I be if I didn't offer my best friend a proper meal, for free, when he looks like he's lived through the Night of the Living dead", Jim smiled at the flushed look of appreciation and embarrassment that crept across his face, "And besides I know how much you hate what they serve in the Mess Hall"

"Thanks kid" he said with a sigh, before stretching and running a hand through his messy hair and down his face rubbing at his eyes, "But I think the Mess Hall is best, 'm too tired to leave campus"

"Shame" she gave a crooked grin, "well, the offer's open anytime if you ever need it"

"I'll remember that" he replied. Moments later, his replacement came in and looked down at him with sympathetic eyes,

"So I take it Avenberry didn't turn up again" he said, his voice showing his irritation,

"Yeah" Bones mumbled, "I take it he's done this before"

"Numerous times", the tall dark man said dryly, with barely a hint of his African origins in his voice, "I'm M'Benga" he offered his hand, which the older and considerably sleepier man took

"McCoy", before gathering his PADD's off the desk and trying to fit them into a too small bag much to the amusement of Jim, who then turned to the other doctor with a smile

"Jim Kirk"

"Ahh, it is a … pleasure to meet you" there was a hit of teasing hesitation in his voice that made Bones snort from behind her, who after deciding that all of his PADDs wouldn't fit in his bag, had stuffed the old satchel with as many as it could fit and had his arms laden with the others,

"I take it you've spoken to the nurses" Jim was suddenly struck how much the doctor's voice got more and more infused with his southern accent when he was making a joke at her expense.

"No, but I've heard them" He gave a crooked grin to her, "It's hard not to when all they seem to speak about is you"

"They gossip about me?"

"And you're inability to get injured in every way possible", she could tell that he was desperately trying to stop a snigger, and was succeeding far more than Bones was. She shot the Georgian man a glare and elbowed him in the ribs, "I believe their favourite story is about the time you jumped off the Golden Gate bridge" she checked again to see his lips twitching before focusing a glare on both of them.

"You gossip about me?" she crooked her head slightly, her eyes directed at Bones expectantly,

"Well, there's got to be some consolation for being stuck with you!" he asserted,

"Fine, but for that I'm not going to help you" and with a grin she leapt off the table across the room to where her bag was, and quickly slipping it over her shoulder she gave a mock salute to M'Benga, "See you another time doc!"

As she walked down the hall, she heard Bones calling out after her, as he tried to keep up with her skipping and hold on to his PADDs at the same time. They both knew that she wasn't angry. She felt a grin crack across her face as a chuckle burst past her lips, much to the surprise of the sleepy receptionist, who was clearly looking forward for her replacement to arrive. Pausing outside she breathed deeply for a moment, relishing the salty twist in the air as it passed through her lungs and the view of the city twinkling in the last light of the day. Bones caught up to her a moment later and gave her a glare, to which she returned a small shrug.

They walked across the pristine lawns of the academy towards the Mess Hall, relishing in the faint breeze that drifted in from the sea. Jim smiled as it lifted a lock of her hair and waved it in front of her face for a moment, It was a decided relief from the heat of the day.

"So … one week down"

"Thirty seven to go" Bones replied,

"Oh god! Don't mention things like that … I don't want to end up as pessimistic like you"

"You could always do with a bit more pessimism, it might just give you a survival instinct"

"And _that_ is quite optimistic of you – not even all of your pessimism could give me a survival instinct, and you know it" she added beaming as he glared again, but didn't comment.

"_You_ are going to be the death of me"

"You wouldn't trade me for the world, don't deny it" dumping her bag onto one of the few empty tables in the mess, she looked at the queue, "What do you want? I'll go and get it"

"Something with meat" Bones said sitting down at the table, lying his head between his hands and a small sigh escaping him. She shook her head, allowing her hair to fly everywhere for a moment before clapping him on the shoulder and joining the queue. Standing in front of her was Gaila, and soon they were so engrossed in conversation that she almost missed the Vulcan's joining the line behind her, or a pair of eyes on her back, if it wasn't for Gaila suddenly straightening from her position leaning against the ledge.

Jim cocked her head in curiosity, and the Orion indicated behind her with a quick flick of her eyes and fingers. She looked behind to come eye to eye with a pair of molten chocolate brown eyes, despite the foot between them, she could see the darker flecks that surrounded the irises and they were, she decided, the most beautiful pair of eyes that she had ever seen.

Snapping her attention away from the eyes as the sound of someone's throat clearing, she quickly snapped a sharp salute when she recognized Captain Pike, who was looking at her with a fond smile,

"Cadet" he nodded a dismissal

"Sir" she gave a small smile, before turning back around to face the staring Gaila, who suddenly decided to grab her arm, leaving what she knew were going to be deep red indents in her skin

"What was that?" the Orion hissed at her, trying to interrogate her without attracting the attention of the Vulcans behind them. Jim merely shrugged. "We _will_ talk about this later"

"Whatever you say General", she said in a sing song voice that drew a eye roll from her green friend, "Anyway" she drawled out, uncaring of the glare that was directed her way as they inched closer and closer towards the servers, "How was your day?"

"'S'alright, I've finally got the dimensions on my small-scale right" Gaila said grinning, "It's been bothering me for a while"

"Same"

Suddenly the Orion looked around, her red curls bouncing around, "Where's Bones? I thought he'd be with you, he normally is"

"He's over there" she said pointing to the table in the corner, where Bones was still sitting with his head on the table "He had to cover a double shift"

"Ouch", they both shared a sympathetic wince as they finally reached the servers. Looking over the assortment of what was left, she deftly ordered two salads, and edged cautiously around the meat surprise, which was a bright orange colour and not surprisingly no one had dared to touch it.

With a smile to Gaila she threaded her way through the crowd and sat across from Bones, who jerked awake at the sound of the plate hitting the table in front of him. He blinked sleepily at her before glancing at the food. She watched as the predicted scowl flitted across his face,

"I wanted meat"

"Believe me, you don't want that meat"

"Meat surprise?"

"Yeah" she said before pausing to have a sip of orange juice, "I think they changed the schedule in order to confuse us"

"Bastards"

"Yeah"

Normally they would have raged on about the stupidity of the staff, before launching into insulting them in various languages that had on occurrence even made Uhura raise her eyebrows in incredulous, but seeing how tired Bones was, Jim thought it better to let him finish before making sure that he got back to his rooms before he fell asleep.

Steering her friend to his rooms, she ended up carrying both of their bags as well as the surplus PADDs that had cluttered Bones' desk earlier that day, which made her an almost comical state she was sure, as she looped an arm under the armpit of Bones, wrinkling her nose at the smell. Watching him fall into the bed, she took off his shoes and socks, throwing them carelessly into a corner of the room, knowing that when he woke he would be annoyed. His PADD's were placed carefully on the desk and within seconds he was out. With a small smile she pulled the blanket over him and then slipped out of the room, her bag slung over a shoulder and a small note left on Bones' bedside '_Take a shower, sleeping beauty_', once Bones woke up and saw the note she knew that she was going to be yelled at, but she couldn't be bothered being apprehensive about his reaction, it was always good to get a rise out of the man.

Climbing into her own bed she noticed that her room-mate had gone out as was usual, normally she would be out herself, but she had promised herself when she had started the Academy that at least for the first week of the year she would behave properly, and she had done so, so far the week had been calm. A calmness she was sure would be broken when the stress started affecting people more.

Her eyes drifted closed, and her mind slipped in to a deep sleep, the darkness in her mind extended until she was surrounded by nothing. It was a calming feeling, being surrounded by the black of space, but there was no stars in the distance, and everything was still and quiet, but not uncomfortably so. Over seconds, though it seemed like days, months, years, eternity the blackness around her morphed and changed, forming into another being, part of the shadow and yet separate.

She watched as the darkness lightened in parts, rippling and forming to create pale, alabaster skin, so incredibly and inhumanly pale skin that settled over high sharp cheekbones, and a sharp jaw. High pointed, inhuman, eye-brows formed next; delicate and curved and so inexplicably alluring in a way that Jim could not have explained. Delicate ears, ending in a point, a slight flush of green at the very tips, almost undistinguishable because of the paleness of the skin. A straight, firm and yet strangely delicate mouth, and then suddenly she saw the eyes again.

The beautiful eyes, burning and molten, rich and sweet like chocolate, swirling and dark it consumed her. She could feel herself moving, though she never moved. She felt hot arms, like steel, wrap around her waist and pull her against a solid chest, though she wasn't being touched. She knew, and how she knew she didn't know, that if she stood toe to toe with the Vulcan, as he most certainly was, he would be over a head taller than her, just enough of a height difference for her to be settled comfortably against his chest, his chin would rest against her head without too much effort.

_Spock_

A single word, or was it a name, she didn't know, but it burrowed its way through her mind, a single chant, an opera of a single word. Beautiful enough to bring tears to her eyes, glorious enough to fill her with joy and yet haunting enough to stab her through the heart. Whatever '_Spock_' was, it was connected to the beautiful individual before her, and it seemed like her very soul was yearning to discover the connection.

She then felt a whisper in her mind, rich tones and golden, strange and welcoming. It was like someone was speaking from a long distance away, something very important, and the more she struggled to hear what was being said, the quieter it became. She could feel herself edging towards being awake, but with a final push; like moving through molasses, she grabbed onto the word, and clung to it before being ripped awake.

_Thy'la_

There was a crash as the door swished open quietly and two individuals stumbled in, quickly undressing each other of their red cadet uniforms as they made their way towards the other bed. With a glare, which was totally unnoticed, she grabbed her blanket and a PADD and left the room.

As she trudged down the hall, her blanket firmly wrapped around her shoulders, she checked the chronometer on her PADD and swore. The small green numbers blinked out at her cheerfully and mocking her '01:36', and she knew then that it would be highly unlikely that she would be getting any more sleep that night. She had slept four hours, and now it was time for her insomnia to kick in, but what irked her even more was that her dream was slipping away from her, slowly and though she tried to stop it, to clung to the word that she had wrestled from her mind, it slipped away, like a trickle the whole dream flicked itself out of her memory. The only memory that she had of the dream was a sense of calm, and yet a longing for something that was missing.

Sitting down on the cold floor of the mess hall, Jim accessed the main replicator console, pulling out the wires and re-wiring them in the correct position. She then connected her PADD and accessed the power core, switching it back to normal, she turned the whole set on and they whirled to life with a yellow light.

She ran diagnostics, removing all traces of the virus from the programme, as well as adding new pieces to the system, until her alarm went off at 04:30. With a groan, she lifted herself off the cold floor, unplugged her PADD and made her way back to her rooms, where she was certain only held her room-mate, and an inability to return to sleep for herself.

Bones so owed her.


	4. Chapter 4

**Glittering Stars**

Chapter 4:

* * *

><p>A month into the academic year, things were beginning to settle down. Everything had been strange for a couple of weeks while the group from the Vulcan Science Fleet had been visiting; every Instructor had been dressed as formally as they could without changing into their Dress Uniform. Everything had been subdued as if they were expecting an inspection at any point.<p>

Jim had heard horror stories from Uhura about how the Vulcan delegation had visited one of the Xenolinguistic classes and had goaded one of the Instructors; a normally clam and serene woman in her twilight years, into having a heart attack from the stress. Bones had been equally disgusted on that subject; having been pulled out of one of his Xenobiology lectures to attend to her. The Instructor in question had recovered, after many hours of operations; and Jim had been left to deal with the_ 'brutal insensitivity of the jackasses'_ as apparently none of the Vulcan delegation had even bothered to check on her, and had instead remarked that_ 'It would be efficient to have a staff in epitome health'_. Suffice to say that the comment had created a lot of anger within certain sectors of the Academy.

Jim had not had another encounter with the delegation, something she was immensely relieved about. With the replicators fixed; though most hadn't noticed for a couple of days, people began to have meals at a time that suited them rather than the whole Academy trying to force itself into the Mess Hall to eat. Because of their schedules Jim and Bones ended up being one of the last people to eat at night, so it was much quieter than before, a fact that Bones appreciated.

Upon the discovery that the replicators had been fixed she had been given a discreet thank you from Captain Pike; who had at the time been clutching a cup of replicated tea in his hands like his very life depended on it. The replicators were not good at milk products, but luckily Pike preferred his tea black and unsweetened. She had also been given a hearty slap on her back from Lt Commander Gaar when she had entered the Engineering Lab.

The whole Engineering Department had been unaffected by the Vulcan Delegation; ignoring any scathe comments and working on their projects. What had sent the entire department into uproar was when the board of governers had decided to stop the race without any warning. Jim had never seen Gaar so angry. He and the other Engineering Instructors seemed to camp out side their offices, demanding them to change their mind. So for that time they had begun working on individual projects.

They had been given no brief, just told to_ 'make something that's somewhat useful and will take up time'_ and Jim had begun working on tweaking the shield systems of transport shuttles. She had almost been finished with it when Gaar had come in one morning; a huge grin on his large face and clapped his hands,

"The race is on!" the entire class cheered, and as instructed put their projects away to be finished a later time. They sat their backs straight as they waited for Gaar to pull out a PAD which looked like it had seen better days, and he began "There will be five teams, six people per team. If you're not on one of the racer teams you will be assigned to help design the security and safety systems for the race itself"

While the second prospect would give them all extra credits and useful experience for when they graduated, everyone wanted to be on one of the racer teams, "Okay, team one will use the Prototype designed by..." the whole class drew it's breath in and leaned forward eagerly, "Kirk, James T." She smiled in triumph, "Also on Team Kirk is Serrasi, Gaila" Jim smiled at her Orion friend sitting beside her, "Mathers, Kieran", both of them looked around in confusion not recognising the name until they realised that it was Cupcake. They gave him a little smile and wave, which he returned. As Gaar read out the rest of the names in her team, and begun the other teams she and Gaila began whispering about what they needed to do.

After they had been dismissed to begin their designs, and sitting at her table; the other five perched either on the table itself or nearby surfaces she showed them her plans. For the rest of the lesson they began redesigning it so that it while it was still similar to the original prototype it incorporated details and ideas from each of them. Noting everything down, Jim couldn't help but smile at the sight of her team getting on so well.

She was confident that Team Kirk was going to win


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **Hey everybody - I know that this has been a horrendously long wait, but life has happened. If you want to know more about what's been taking up my time check out my profile, as I don't want to write an authors note that is too long. This one's going to be long enough anyway. So yeah life has happened that has kept me away from this fic for now over a year [wow] and to be fair I haven't done much fiction writing at all [nearly none] during that time. So I've been feeling guilty about this. I've decided that a way to kick my sorry arse into shape and actually write [and finish] this story is to update it every Saturday.

Starting today! So congratulations! I don't know how many people will be reading this but I hope you enjoy it. I'm going to try and keep to this schedule as much as possible. And you're all allowed to kick my sorry butt into working if I miss out on an update. My twitter is: _leaves_of_gold_ [there's also a link to it via. my profile] you can follow me there for updates, or to harass me about updates, or to just flail with me about anything that you desire to flail about; I'm big into the flailing.

I'll also be doing at least one one-shot/short story chapter per week, and I've organised it so that this doesn't intrude with my updating of this story. I have a poll up on my profile so that you can vote for what you would most like to see me writing [which I urge you all to do] and I'm very happy to take requests/prompts, do don't feel wary of PM, or contacting me via. twitter, I'd love to hear from you all.

Now back onto the story, and the main reason you're here, enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong>Glittering Stars<strong>

Chapter 5:

* * *

><p>San Fransisco, already quite famous for its cloud coverage and grey weather, grew even more so as the academic year passed into November, and within a few days of transitioning into December; becoming deliciously close to the Winter break. The sun rose at approximately seven in the morning and set at five in the evening and even for those sparse hours of daylight it was filtered through layers of cloud to bring a dim hazy sort of light that made many wish to stay in their beds if it wasn't for the fear of being labelled AWOL. There was a bitter chill in the air coming off the sea, along with the strong scent of salt and fish that always wafted from the bay area, that hit all those who walked through the Academy's quads on their way to lectures.<p>

It was of course because of the oncoming Winter that brought more and more people into the Medical Centre requiring remedies for seasonal illnesses, or because of accidents caused by the increasing amounts of water on the ground. Consequently this meant that Bones was having to spend more and more shifts at the Medical Centre in order to help cope with the influx of patients, much to his displeasure because it meant longer hours, often at awkward times.

It was on one morning, at around six thirty, before even the sun had risen to shed even a little sun onto the academy campus through the bank of clouds, that found Bones and Jim walking across the campus. Bones was heading for a three hour shift, while Jim was heading towards the Engineering buildings, and from there to the hangers for the testing of Team Kirk's F1 Racer.

"You be careful, ya hear?" Bones' georgian accent cut through the early morning gloom, and startled Jim slightly, who had been walking next to the older man clutching a cup of replicated coffee in her hands and bending so that her face was directly over the steam that was emanating from the hot beverage. It was too hot to even sip but she was making the most of it, and stumbled slightly in surprise at Bones' sudden statement, causing the coffee to slip over the lid and splash a little onto her hand.

With a grimace and shaking her left hand slightly she muttered, "Thanks for that"

"Sorry" Looking at him from under her fringe, she noted that he didn't look apologetic at all, "I mean it though, you be careful"

"Bones-" she sighed, and rolled her eyes at the georgian, slightly amused by him so quickly slipping into his doctor mode in order to lecture her.

"Don't you 'Bones' me, young missy" he grumbled, "Those racers of yours are dangerous even when they're staying still, let alone being driven by some crazy engineer; and you must admit that all of you engineering lot are touched in the head"

"Hey!"

He continued on as if he hadn't heard her exclamation of protest, "add on top of that that it's your team" at that comment she gave his arm a punch that caused him to scowl, "What was that for?"

"Don't insult Team Kirk"

"I wouldn't dream of doing such a heinous thing" he replied, with a straight face, and continued on quickly before letting her respond to him which he could see from her scrunched eyebrows and indignant expression she was about to, "Anyway, as I was saying; it's going to be dangerous enough, and added to that the crappy weather we've been having the last couple days, I don't want you to get hurt"

"You're worried!" she realised with a chuckle, "You care! Oh Bones, why didn't you just say?"

"I don't care" he gruffly muttered, trying to hide his amused smile

"But you do worry?"

"'Course I do"

"Because you care!"

"No, because I don't want to deal with your mess today as well as all the other idiots who haven't realised that skinny dipping in the bay at three in the morning while drunk on God knows what is not a good idea"

"Who did that?"

"You, last week"

"Really?" she asked, finally able to take a sip of her coffee and wincing at the bitter taste, "I don't remember that"

"You wouldn't, you were drunk at the time, and afterwards medicated enough to knock out a Vulcan"

"Oh"

"Yeah, oh" he retorted sarcastically, "So I don't want you back at the Med Centre today, so try and have some care okay?"

"Okay" affirmed but it seemed not to be enough for Bones, because he stopped suddenly and grabbed her arm gently,

"Jim, I'm being serious here; be careful" Seeing his concern, an emotion he hardly allowed to be expressed on his face, even around her she bit back her sarcastic response,

"I will, promise" she patted his arm slightly and he let go. After taking a sip of her coffee and allowing Bones to steal the cup from her, she enjoyed the impressive scowl that spread across his face after he took a large swig of the brew before saying.

"Mercies Balls, that's foul!"

"Tell me about it" she said, "Now give me back my coffee"

"You can have it" Clutching the paper cup between her hands again she tried to ignore the not so pleasant smell that came from the replicated drink as the reached the edge of the quad. They stopped for a second before bumping shoulders,

"I'll see you later kid" Bones said turning left and towards the Med Centre, which they could see rising high behind the quad, while Jim turned right,

"See ya later Bones" she gave a wave and took a gulp of the foul tasting coffee as she headed towards the Engineering buildings. Stepping inside the main building, and throwing the now empty paper cup into the recycling depositor she joined the others milling around. Slapping an arm around Gaila's shoulders in a friendly hug.

"You excited?" she asked the Orion.

The Orion grinned, almost bubbling in excitement and hopping from one foot to another. "So excited, we are so going to win this thing!", and she slung an arm around Jim in return. Continuing to joke with her friend, as well as the others in her team they waited for Commander Gaar, as well as the last stragglers from the various groups.

While waiting for the last few people to arrive, she couldn't help but think of her luck to be in the Academy at all. Unlike what some had thought, it hadn't been an assured thing. In fact it was more assured that she would spend the rest of her life in Iowa drifting through the towns near Riverside and not really doing anything. For a number of years she had no real direction, just hopping from one group of people who she didn't really like to another, and from one dead end job that she hated, and didn't keep for long, to another. Her mother hadn't said anything to make her get a job, but Jim couldn't stand the thought of living off her mothers' income and the pay that they had received after her father's death forever, but despite the fact that they were close to the Riverside Dockyard, the thought of joining Starfleet never popped into her head.

Throughout her childhood, living in rural Iowa she had grown up under the shadow and expectations of being the daughter of the heroic George Kirk who sacrificed himself for his wife and newborn child. A child he had named with some of his last breaths, a child whom he had assumed was a son because of the scans taken while Winona was pregnant. It turned out that even such technology which was considered 100% accurate for over 200 years, was more like 99.9998% accurate and that she was the unlucky 0.0002% which messed up its perfect score. Consequently she grew up with the name that her father had intended for his second son rather than his first daughter. Winona had refused to change her name in those early days, and then after a while it had stuck.

Not that she minded, a name was just a name, and hers suited her fine. In her opinion it suited her far better than something like Brittany or Claire; which had been popular names in Riverside, Iowa. So she had grown up in the middle of nowhere with a name that a girl shouldn't have and with the shadow of man she never knew hanging over her. Her mother had stayed in Starfleet, leaving Jim and Sam with at first aunts and then Step-Fathers. It wasn't surprising that Sam left one day, and she didn't blame him; if she had been older and stronger, and perhaps a bit wiser she would have done the same.

Instead she had reacted badly, screaming and acting like a spoilt child. Her temper got even worse when she heard that Frank, the Step-Father of the month, was planning on selling her Fathers car. The car that was the only physical remainder of George Kirk left on the farm. The car that she and Sam had spent hours in, sitting on the old leather seats and listening to radio and just pretending that everything wasn't as messed up as it really was.

She hadn't coped with the news well, and had resorted to flinging it; and nearly herself over a nearby gorge. In those few seconds that she had been in the air, hands reached out to catch the cliff edge, victory in her lungs and ears, she felt as if she was flying. She had come to the ground with quite some force, enough to leave quite spectacular bruises along her ribs, but she hadn't minded. The pain reminded her of the brilliant feeling of all that power underneath her and at the control she had for once in her life, and the feeling of flying and freedom. It was a feeling she had vowed to herself to never forget.

And she hadn't forgotten, or regretted it, not even when her mother had been contacted from off world and told of the incident. She didn't forget listening to the enraged tones of her mother for her foolishness. And she didn't forget when she was taken off planet to visit on of her few remaining aunts on one of the colonies. And by the time she had returned to Earth, months later and far thinner than she had ever been before; jumping at noises and unable to sleep in a bed for fear of being exposed and weak, she still hadn't forgot. It was perhaps those months that made her remember more the sun on her skin and the wind on her cheeks and the laughter in the air around her than any other point in her life.

Returned to Earth, she had spent many weeks and months and years unable to get that feeling back, desperately clawing at any chance to laugh like that again and to feel that sort of power and freedom, instead of the frailty of reality and life. She wanted the childlike illusion back and had been destroying herself to try and attain it.

And then finally one day, she had met Christopher Pike, or rather Captain Christopher Pike, who had looked down at her and said,"This all you can do kid?"and had dared her to do more. She didn't know why she had agreed, and to be honest standing in the Engineering building she still didn't but she had, and life had become infinitely more interesting. Pike had suggested that she join the command track, like her father, or the sciences; like Winona. But though she had the aptitude for both, she had chosen Engineering.

She'd chosen the oily, dirty, under-respected and under-appreciated Engineering, with its crazy professors and explosions three times a week, if they were lucky. And she'd chosen the only disciple that had allowed her to work with the thrumming engines, and the raw power that made Starships fly. She didn't care too hoots about flying or leading, she had seen the troubles that came with leading so many, of being in control of people's lives when she was off world and she didn't want that burden.

She had met Bones on the transport from the Riverside Dock yards to the San Francisco academy, Gaila had been her first room mate and had met Nyota; who preferred being called Uhura on her first night at the Academy, when at three in the morning she had frantically, and very drunkenly, knocked on the wrong room. Thankfully the younger woman had not let first impressions rule her, and they had started a friendship that had solidified over their mutual love of the Vulcan Language. Even if Uhura did tend to keep on teasing her about the room thing three years later.

Since her return to Terra Firma, she hadn't had friends; or rather real friends, but upon arriving at the academy she had soon met people that she knew she would fight to the death for. And she'd know; she'd done it before.

When Bones had found out about the car and the cliff incident he had muttered and dragged her to the Med Centre for diagnostic checks. She had asked what he was looking for, and he'd gruffly replied "Just checking that ya' didn't hit yer head real hard when you were young, because you're insane kid". She had been grateful when he hadn't mentioned the signs of nutritional starvation, not the scars. When he didn't ask about the reasons behind her insomnia or about her panic attacks and paranoia, she knew that she had found a best friend, and a new brother. Someone she could rely on and someone she would do whatever it took to protect from some of the horrors in the Universe.

Her thoughts abruptly snapped to the present when Lt. Commander Gaar entered and started to address them all. Explaining the Health and Safety instructions and the order of events, she looked around to notice that her entire team had arrived. Except Cupcake. Just as she noticed this, she heard a couple fof footsteps and suddenly another arm was slung around her shoulder.

"You're late" She whispered

"Sorry, had to help my room mate to the Med Centre, looks like he's come down with that flu that going around" he whispered back to her. Hearing his explanation she couldn't help the small smile slipping across her face, her large friend truly was soft at heart. They had met out at a bar when someone had looked at Gaila and wouldn't take no for an answer. Of course this had meant that Jim had soon gotten involved, and it had quickly escalated into a full scale fight. Joseph Dorn, who had soon become known as Cupcake, had rescued both her and Gaila from the fight and had become one of their best friends.

"S'alright, but you better not infect me"

He chickled under his breath and they turned to pay attention to the briefing. Eventually Gaar was finished and they made their way to the hangers where they had been building the racers. The main Engineering building, was called by hundreds of former and current Engineering Students as The Tier; because of the stepped shapes that were all over it, was the first Engineering building that one would get to when walking through the Campus. It was because of this that not many knew of the true sizr of the Engineering departments compound. The Hangers were on the far side from the Tier and it took three quarters of an hour, even taking the monorail that sped between, and under all the various buildings in the Engineering compound.

Finally at the Hanger they were working at, they got to work. Changing into their yellow jumpsuits and grabbing their goggles they finished the last of the welding to the frame. They'd been out in the Hangers for three and a half weeks by this point and had almost finished with the initial large scale prototype building of the racers. Up to this point they hadn't had permission to test the engines they had built from scratch, as the Health and Safety rules had said that the first test must be outside in an open space with the appropriate measures. Until that day, there hadn't been enough empty space because of projects other years were doing, but finally they were able to.

Wheeling out their racers, she looked curiously at the other groups work. Having tested their engine; which worked perfectly after some anious spluttering, much to the whole teams relief, they had put the F1 back under the shelter and out of the rain, before going back to watch the other teams test. It was a good way to scope out the competition.

S couple of other teams had done F1 Racer designes, while others had gone for other more modern designs. One of the last groups to test their designs engines was using an experimental mini-warp engine, which theoretically could make it be the fastest in the entire race, even if it couldn't get to Warp 1 because of it being far too small to generate that sort of power. As they were rolling out into the test area, she and the others watched closely. Just before they switched it on she noticed that the casing around the engine wasn't perfect; that a crack had developed in it allowing the light rain to get into the engine, just as she opened her mouth to inform the group they had turned it on and suddenly there was a large noise, a rush of heat and she felt the hard surface of the ground rush up to hit her.

Waking up she could feel a sharp pain running down her left side, the tingle of regrowing skin on her face and hands and the sharp glare of the lights on her closed eyelids. Blinking open her eyes and wincing at what the brightness, she looked around to note that she was once again in a Med Centre patients room.

"God Dammit kid, I told you to be careful!" came the rough, but tinged with worry voice from her side and she turned her head slightly; ignoring the slight flash of pain from her neck to see Bones next to her looking down at her with furrowed eyebrows.

"Hi Bones, I couldn't help it really; I'm addicted to this place" she said cheekily, unable to stop herself

"Jim" he warned looking down at the PADD in his hand, "Where does it hurt?"

"Everywhere"

"Jim"

"What? it does!" she replied, "At least it wasn't my fault this time"

"Jim!"


End file.
